This paper inquires into literariness

a much neglected problem in translation

from a cognitive poetic perspective; it tries to show the nature of proxy as concerns translation through various illustrations

hence what is termed by Bausse-Beier the proxy principle

and in passing answer the philosophical problem of translatability or untranslatability. Literariness

not limited to literature

may exist in all texts. It can be defined as the form of a text that is suggestive of something

different from that of a text that is not. Any text that is literary is a literary text. Literariness may be realized through the use of metaphors

personifications

imagery

hyperbole and so on

and through the employment of pattern such as alliteration

paranomasia

meter

rhyme and so on. In translating a literary text

a translator should capture the literariness

otherwise the translation fails. However

in the process of translation

some of these features that contribute to the form

such as phonological or prosodic ones

will be definitely lost. If literariness is to be maintained

there should be a way for compensation. Analogy comes to the fore

though translation is by nature analogical; it is employed to reveal the iconicity between signifier and signified through some means of representation. In such an endeavor

optimum relevance should be aimed at so that a good proxy can be ensured: what is in the mind of an original reader should be that in the mind of a translation reader.